Often those who speak out against euthanasia refer to a concept called the slippery slope. The slippery slope refers to the idea that once a country legalizes euthanasia, even in very limited circumstance, it is very hard to prevent these laws from expanding to include more and more countries. 

That’s what we are seeing currently around the world!

In 2001, the Netherlands was the first European country to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. This was only for those experiencing “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement”.

But since then, the Netherlands has interpreted this law in the broadest way possible. 

People with chronic illnesses, disabilities, and even mental illnesses like depression have been killed through euthanasia. Children as young as twelve have been euthanized. The Netherlands has even allowed doctors to kill babies under the age of one!

Now the Health Minister in the Netherlands wants to complete the slippery slope. He wants to allow the murder of children between one and twelve through euthanasia!

People of all countries must speak out against this. This violation of the right to life needs to be recognised and stopped. If the idea of killing children through euthanasia becomes acceptable in any country, it makes it much more likely it will one day become acceptable in the U.S. 

CitizenGO will do all we can to speak out against the culture of death wherever it exists in the world. We must all raise our voices together to ensure that the dignity of life is respected.

In the Netherlands, we are witnessing the right to life being attacked on a new front with a new proposal to allow children to be euthanized. And worse, this form of legal murder from the ages of 1 to 12 will become a global problem if we don’t stop it right now.

On June 27th, Health Minister Ernst Kuipers has told Parliament that he is working to make it so that children between the ages of one and twelve can be killed through euthanasia. According to Kuipers, the final concept and the date the protocol will come into force will be presented in October.

We have a short period of time to act!

Typically, supporters of euthanasia talk about how euthanasia is only for people who are near death and can fully consent. But children do not have the capacity to consent!

Everyone who believes in the sanctity of life must speak out against this proposed change in the Netherlands. Policies like these will motivate left-wing activists who want to bring child euthanasia to the United States! 

CitizenGO has teamed up with the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition to speak out against child euthanasia. 

Our goal is to gather 20,000 signatures in one week on this petition so that Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Ernst Kuipers can see that people all around the world condemn child euthanasia! 

Your signature is crucial to stress to the Netherlands government the importance of caring for children who need pain and symptom management, not killing them. It’s now that we must demand that the right to life of young children be respected and treated with dignity.

Already, children in the Netherlands between the age of twelve and sixteen are able to die by assisted suicide and euthanasia with parental consent, and minors above the age of sixteen are able to request it without parental consent. Even the euthanasia of infants under the age of one has been permitted since the creation of the Groningen Protocol in 2005.

Now the Netherlands government wants to extend the Groningen Protocol so that children up to the age of twelve can be killed! And because this doesn’t require revising the law, this could be done with open debate among politicians.

They are permitting the killing of children, who do not have the ability to consent, without even allowing a debate or a vote among the politicians who represent Dutch citizens. 

Pro-death activists are out of control in the Netherlands. Now, this sets an extremely bad precedent for the rest of the world.

We must also recognize that we are witnessing is the outcome of the “slippery slope” that social conservatives have always warned about when euthanasia laws get introduced in countries around the world. 

Allowing doctors to kill people without punishment creates a paradigm shift in our cultural understanding of the roles of medical professionals. Even if safeguards such as informed consent are put forward, these principles and safeguards can simply be chipped away at any time. 

We are already seeing this push for euthanasia in the U.S. too! 

Not too long ago, euthanasia was extended to people whose deaths aren’t “reasonably foreseeable”. Soon, on the insistence of the Senate, it will be allowed for those who just suffer mental illness. 

In fact, our government has a “Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying” which was formed to discuss five topics related to euthanasia in Canada. And one of those topics was euthanasia for “mature minors”...otherwise known as child euthanasia.

Pro-death activists want to see euthanasia legalized for children. If we don’t all push back when we see it in the Netherlands, we’ll see it soon in other countries, including the U.S. 

More information:

DutchNews.nl: Health minister proposes euthanasia protocol for children under 12 (Link to article).

Netherlands Health Minister proposes protocol for euthanasia of children (Link to article).

Protect children’s lives from euthanasia (Link to article).

Legalizing euthanasia: What we can learn from the Netherlands (Link to article).

YouTube: Protect Children's Lives (Link to video)

CitizenGO: No child euthanasia in Canada (Link to petition)